World Cancer Day: Debunking The Cancer Myths

Today is World Cancer Day, a chance to raise our collective voices in the name of improving general knowledge around cancer and dismissing misconceptions about the disease. The focus of this year’s campaign is on Target 5 of the World Cancer Declaration: Reduce stigma and dispel myths about cancer, under the tagline “Debunk the myths”.

I am guessing that many of you reading this already know how to separate the myths from reality, but just in case someone is new to this, let’s get some of the most persistent myths banished once and for all.

Deodorant does not cause breast cancer, nor does wearing an underwire bra.

Most breast cancer is not hereditary – actually, only 5- 10% of breast cancer is due to a family history of the disease.

A lump in my breast means I have cancer – not necessarily; breast tissue is changing all the time because of varying hormone levels, especially during menstruation or breastfeeding. Lumps can be benign growths of tissue, but if you do feel a lump in your breast, you should always have it checked out straight away to be on the safe side.

Stress causes cancer.

While it is true that stress impacts your health, cancer is a complex disease and the scientific evidence that stress causes cancer is not conclusive. However, this is not the final word on this subject, and subsequent research may prove otherwise.Whatever we believe about the connection between stress and cancer, there is no denying that stress can cause other health problems that negatively impact our lives.

What other common misconceptions and myths about cancer have you come across?

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13 thoughts on “World Cancer Day: Debunking The Cancer Myths”

Since we are discussing myths and truths, I hope I will be permitted to put my 2 cents in for what it’s worth…
First, deodorant does not seem to contribute to cancer, but antiperspirant may. The aluminum compounds in antiperspirants do promote a hormonal response and they do collect in human breast tissue.

I have had the pleasure of corresponding with Dr P D Darbre over the past few years while writing my book. Dr Darbre is the leading scientist in the field of breast cancer and environmental risks. She has devoted the last 11 years of her life studying the effects of toxins on breast tissue and how these toxins affect the risk of developing breast cancer. She states:

“I am concerned that we find aluminium in the human breast at all as biology was never designed to use aluminium and it has many toxic side effects in the body.”

Even the “crystal” type deodorants can have ALUM which is a form of aluminum.

The other point is stress. Stress is a broad term that is very misunderstood. It is thought that if you don’t “feel” stressed, then you must be OK, and this just is not the case. We can have emotional scars and spiritual shortcomings that can cause us underlying stress that over time make our immune systems crash. You can’t measure this with a thermometer, so it seems very ambiguous, but if we could go around and measure everyone’s cortisol, (a chemical in the blood that is excreted with physical, emotional or mental stress) it would be a different story and we would see very functional people walking around with extremely elevated cortisol levels. Prolonged elevations prevent healing and cause illness in many systems of the body.

Stress reduction in the form of mental exercises such as meditation are key in increasing the immunity and causing positive changes in the body including increasing parts of the brain that have to do with a sense of well being….which reduces fear…which reduces cortisol…which increases healing….and on and on.

You mentioned that only 5-10% of breast cancers are due to heredity…but over 75% of breast cancers have no known cause….that is to say, the person had no risk factors for the cancer. We’ve reached a point in our existence where the human body is resisting what it’s encountering in day to day living.

The name of the game is susceptibility…..we all have differing levels of susceptibility all throughout our lives. The tipping point for disease can be any THING….if we are susceptible at that time.

To reduce your risk of cancer:

There’s my 2 cents (probably more like 5 cents) 🙂 ! And I hope someday we can celebrate World Non-Cancer Day!

I am by no means a Doctor and I certainly have opinions and that is of course my right. Life as a whole has something and/or everything to do with cancer. We cannot protect ourselves from it all, but can make positive steps to live as well as we can in our own individual circumstances. We can only do what we can do and should never live in fear of our informed choices we make during our lives.

I think that all things must be on the table to prove or dispel as this is an extremely complex disease. You can line up 100 women and expose them to the exact same things in life and only some will get this disease, and yes, we still do not know why in the majority of cases. Cancer’s secret weapon…. the ability to change..

So I will only add this to the myth busting day 🙂

If in doubt, DO NOT IGNORE changes – ASK.. as 9 out of 10 lumps are NOT CANCER. The fear of cancer and of its treatment is a valid fear but the alternative it you are the 1 person in 10 is far worse.

Do not be afraid of cancer – challenge it.. Never let it win

I am so over the ‘breast cancer is a “soft” cancer and that no-one dies from it anymore’. I cannot help a ground swell of pink but people…. trust me when I say that in Australia alone 7 women leave their family and friends EVERY SINGLE DAY.. In no way or form can that be looked upon as a “soft” cancer that everyone just has a wonderful journey through and at the end there is rainbows and glitter. (thankfully there are more cases all the time where cancer does not return and for that I am overjoyed about as I certainly would not want everyone to be walking the path that I am now walking)

Some may disagree with me when I say that awareness is the key.. I believe it is.. But it is only the first part of the key. With awareness needs to be more knowledge. Because knowledge is what will finally solve this extremely complex puzzle..

I live each and every day with hope that all the pieces come together and a cure (or at very least a way to stop it from continuing to progress) will be found so that I too will not have to leave my family and friends any earlier than need be.

Reblogged this on Working It Out As I Go Along and commented:
I spend my life surrounded by Stage IV Breast Cancer, but there are many more cancers than just BC.. dispelling the myths on World Cancer Day, should be about all cancers and our efforts to understand it more and fear it less. Take just a moment to find out something about cancer so the word holds less power. Only together will we beat this horrible disease

I was a vegetarian, slender, and ran 3 miles five days a week with great spiritual and mental health and no cancer family history. None of this prevented my getting breast cancer at age 43. Since excessive alcohol is supposed to be a possible risk factor as well as having your first child after 30, I’ll never know whether having my first child at 31 and drinking one glass of wine a day in my younger years contributed to the problem. There are so many environmental, genetic, and possible lifestyle factors involved (many of which are still unknown) that we just can’t predict what will happen to any given individual. Despite taking great care of myself since getting early-stage breast cancer, I still received a stage IV cancer diagnosis before turning 60. This fact isn’t meant to scare anyone, but rather to serve as a reality check. Life should be enjoyed. Dispelling myths that make us feel guilty and paranoid is important, and I’m glad you are tackling this controversial subject, Marie. xox

Hi Jan, thank you so much for your contribution to this discussion. I think we can all drive ourselves crazy trying to figure out why we got cancer, and certainly blaming ourselves for what we did or didn’t do is counter-productive. As always you are the voice of reason for us.

Jan said it perfectly for me. Good post Marie and well said Jan. I woke up today to my birthday and then realised its also world cancer day. I’m angry it’s stolen my birthday ( and so much more!) but I’m here and celebrating birthdays so I’m off to have a good day and celebrate life instead!! Love to you all on world cancer day 🙂

I believe that the risk factors for developing cancer are exposuring your body to any form of toxins from the environments and foods. There is less than 20% genetic factors play important role too, however, if you have a good lifestyle and balanced nutrition, you can delay or never develop cancer.
The Chinese word for cancer is a picture indicating how you get cancer, eating wrong foods! Brendabinsu from Dubai the UAE

Myth: Breast cancer is the leading cancer killer of women, and prostate cancer is the leading cancer killer in men. Fact: Lung cancer kills twice as many women as breast cancer and three times as many men as prostate cancer. In fact, lung cancer kills more than breast, colon, and prostate combined.

On workd cancer day, shouldn’t we be debunking myths on all cancers, not just the one everyone hears about? What about the ones people don’t talk about-cervical, anal, rectal, esophageal? Unless we start talking about all cancers, we don’t stand a fighting chance.

Thanks Rachael – I am grateful for your contribution. I take your point about all cancers. I suppose I focus on breast cancer, because of my own personal experience and what I have learned over the past ten years, but certainly we need to be aware of the risk factors for all cancers. Thanks again

". . .and the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and JOYFUL, by which we arrive at the ground at our own feet, and learn to be at home."
Wendell Berry